News|Russia-Ukraine war

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 227

As the Russia-Ukraine war enters its 227th day, we take a look at the main developments.

Illia Yerlash, a Ukrainian army officer, stands among the remains of a school that was destroyed during the fighting between Russian troops and the Ukrainian army, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in the recently liberated town of Lyman, Donetsk region, Ukraine, October 5, 2022
A Ukrainian army officer stands among the ruins of a school destroyed during the fighting between Russian troops and the Ukrainian army, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in the recently liberated town of Lyman, Donetsk region, Ukraine [Zohra Bensemra/Reuters]
Published On 8 Oct 2022

Here is the situation as it stands on Saturday, October 8.

Fighting

  • A fuel tank was on fire early on Saturday on the Kerch bridge in Crimea, which links the peninsula to mainland Russia, Russia’s RIA state news agency said, while Ukraine’s media reported that it was an explosion.
  • A series of explosions rocked the eastern Ukraine city of Kharkiv, sending towering plumes of illuminated smoke into the sky and triggering a series of secondary explosions. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
  • Ukrainian soldiers are defending the eastern industrial town of Bakhmut as Moscow-backed separatist forces in the war-battered Donetsk region advance after recapturing a series of villages nearby.
A view shows a fire on the Kerch bridge at sunrise in the Kerch Strait, Crimea.
A view shows a fire on the Kerch bridge at sunrise in the Kerch Strait, Crimea, on October 8, 2022 [Reuters]
  • A US Navy reconnaissance aircraft flew near the site of the September 26 rupturing of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in the Baltic Sea hours after the first damage emerged, according to tracking reviewed by Reuters news agency, a flight Washington said was routine.
  • The United States sees no reason to change its nuclear posture and does not have indications that Russia is preparing to imminently use nuclear weapons, the White House said, a day after President Joe Biden referred to the threat of a nuclear Armageddon.

Economy

  • The International Monetary Fund’s executive board approved Ukraine’s request for $1.3bn in additional emergency funding to help sustain its economy as it battles Russia’s invasion.
  • Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree establishing a new operator for the ExxonMobil Corp-led Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project in Russia’s Far East, the oil giant’s largest investment in Russia.
  • United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and his team are working to expand and extend a deal allowing Ukrainian Black Sea grain exports, which could expire in late November, a UN spokesman said.
A worker loads a truck with grain at a terminal during barley harvesting in Odesa
A worker loads a truck with grain at a terminal during barley harvesting in Odesa [File: Igor Tkachenko/Reuters]

Human rights

  • Ukrainian authorities have found a mass grave in the recently liberated eastern town of Lyman and it is unclear how many bodies it holds, the regional governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko, has said.
  • Jailed Belarusian activist Ales Bialiatski, Russian organisation Memorial and Ukrainian group Center for Civil Liberties won the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize. The prize will be seen by many as a condemnation of Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
  • A UN human rights body passed a motion to appoint a new independent expert on alleged human rights abuses in Russia, accusing Moscow of creating a “climate of fear” through repression and violence.
Source: News Agencies